Most Americans Believe Oswald Conspired With Others to Kill JFK

by Darren K. Carlson

Support for conspiracy theory increased sharply in the 1970's and has been high ever since

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ – The vast majority of Americans believe the
1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, one of the most
infamous events in American history, was a conspiracy. A Gallup
poll from March of this year shows that over 8 in 10 Americans
(81%) believe that other people were involved in a conspiracy to
assassinate President Kennedy. Only 13% of the public believes that
just one man (Lee Harvey Oswald) acted alone. These recent results
match the high point of those believing in a conspiracy, a
percentage that has increased since the 1960s.

Gallup first asked about a possible conspiracy shortly after the
assassination in November of 1963, and at that time, 52% of the
public thought others were involved in the assassination. A similar
percentage (50%) believed in a conspiracy three years later in
December 1966. When Gallup revisited the subject in 1976, the
percentage believing others were involved had increased
considerably. At that time, 81% thought others were involved in the
killing of President Kennedy. It is likely that this large increase
in belief in a conspiracy was related to the highly publicized
findings of the 1976 HSCA (House Select Committee on
Assassinations), which concluded that Kennedy was probably killed
as a result of a conspiracy. The percentage believing in a
conspiracy decreased slightly, by 7 percent, in 1983 (74%). Support
of the conspiracy theory remained high in 1992 (77%), and 1993
(75%), following the release of the popular Oliver Stone film "JFK"
in 1991, which presented a variety of assassination conspiracy
theories.

Interestingly, those with more formal education tend to have the
lowest belief in a possible conspiracy in the JFK assassination.
Among those with a post-graduate education, 71% believe others were
involved in the assassination, compared with 78% among those with
some college education and 84% among those with a H.S. education or
less.

Importance of the Assassination
The JFK assassination does stand out as a hallmark event of the
previous century, according to the American public. A Gallup poll
in 1999 asked Americans about the importance of a variety of events
that occurred during the century. The results of that question
place the assassination 8th on the list of important
events in the 20th century, behind events surrounding
both World Wars, women getting the right to vote, and the passing
of the Civil Rights Act. Importance of the Kennedy assassination
was nearly identical to that assigned to landing a man on the moon
in 1969, and ranked ahead of items like the Vietnam War, the
breakup of the Soviet Union, economic depression of the 1930s, and
the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Survey Methods

The results below are based on telephone interviews with a
randomly selected national sample of 1,024 adults, 18 years and
older, conducted March 26-28, 2001. For results based on these
samples, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum
error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or
minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question
wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can
introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion
polls.

Do you think that one man was responsible for the
assassination of President Kennedy, or do you think that others
were involved in a conspiracy?

One man

Others involved

No opinion

2001 Mar 26-28

13

81

6

1993 Nov 15-16

15

75

10

1992 Feb ^

10

77

13

1983 Oct ^

11

74

15

1976 Dec †

11

81

9

1966 Dec †

36

50

15

1963 Nov †

29

52

19

^

Wording included "one man, Lee Harvey Oswald,…"

†

Slight variations in wording:
1963 - "Do you think that the man who shot President Kennedy acted
on his own, or was some group or element also responsible?"

1966 - "Do you think that one man was responsible for the
assassination of President Kennedy, or do you think others were
involved?"

1976 - "Do you think that one man was responsible for the
assassination of President Kennedy, or do you think others were
involved?"

Recommended

What is the most important event of the 20th century? Historians may ponder that question for years to come, but from the perspective of the people of the United States, it is World War II. In a recent Gallup poll, Americans nominated the war in general, the Nazi Holocaust that occurred during the war, and the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan that helped end it, as three of the top five events of the century. Rounding out the top five are two events that signaled major changes in human rights and equality: the granting of the right to vote to women in 1920, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.